Protective mother bears

There comes a time in every mother's life when her babies get traumatized and she has to rise up to her full, claw-and-tooth-bearing height and defend them.  Or, when that's not possible, she must comfort the babies after the trauma has passed.

Tonight we came home from the first full day with both of us at our internships, and the kitties didn't greet us at the door like they usually do now.  We heard pathetic meowing from the back of the apartment, and found both the bedroom and art room doors closed (which we had not left like that).  River had been stuck in the art room, and Simon in the bedroom.  We know they aren't strong enough to close the doors that tightly themselves.

It turns out that the next phase of the sprinkler system construction, which we had been notified in writing was going to happen tomorrow (Thursday, February 2, 2012), had actually happened today.  The workers must have come in, found the cats and shut them in the bedrooms so they couldn't escape during the work.  The babies were trapped with no food, water, or litter, for heaven only knows how long.  Simon had clawed up a bare patch in the carpet trying to get out of the bedroom. 

No one from the apartment office or the construction company even tried to get in touch with me or Sarah by either phone or e-mail, which they definitely have on file.  And the workers didn't bother to let the cats back out again before they left.  The kitties were so upset they didn't touch their dinner for over an hour.

We had been all prepared to set the cats up in the bedroom, together, with all their necessities, tomorrow when the apartment managers said the work would be done.  The coordination of this whole construction project has been crappy, with last-minute notifications and contractors not talking to each other about what order the work needs to be done in (that's a whole other rant).  But we've been flexible and accommodating, because we know the work needs to be done, and until today we've been around to protect our babies and make sure they were safely in the bedroom with everything they need.

Oh lordy, we were PISSED!!!! Our poor kitties!!! Here it is, three weeks today that we've had them, and strange people come in while we're not home, herd them into the back rooms and separate them from each other without their food or water!!! 

Thankfully, they seem to be alright now; they've eaten dinner and had some treats and played and gotten brushed and patted and snuggled.  They don't seem to associate what happened with us at all, because we weren't here to keep it from happening. But we felt so terrible, our precious babies were scared and hungry and confused. We've tried so hard to be such good mommies!! 

So tomorrow we will be going into Mother Bear mode and marching down to the management office to demand that, 1) any future work will happen according to the agreed-upon schedule, 2) we get it in writing that we will not be charged for the carpet damage, and 3) that any contractors working in our apartment will be respectful of our animals and our possessions.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!